


Inside The Winter

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Porn Battle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-03
Updated: 2011-08-03
Packaged: 2017-10-22 04:24:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/233708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Auror Ginny Weasley is supposed to protect Draco Malfoy. It doesn't quite turn out the way she thought it would.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inside The Winter

Ginny thought that her superior officers were playing a trick on her, and laughed as soon as she heard what the latest assignment was going to be. Of course, no one else was laughing. "You're not serious," she finally said in disbelief.

The case file was placed in front of her. "Of course not, Weasley," Applebauer told her sternly. "Draco Malfoy's safety is vital in this particular case. There has been considerable effort made in tracking him down so far, and this latest attempt on his life nearly succeeded. He has finally agreed to our demands to take care of his safety, and you're one of the few agents we can trust with this.

She should have probably felt it was a compliment. Instead, it felt more like a death sentence.

***

Draco didn't seem to enjoy the thought of being locked away in a safe house with Ginny Weasley, but he kept his objections to himself. Despite the treatments and potions given, there were still ugly bruises all over his face and neck, and he had considerable damage to his arms and chest from the beating he had taken. The file had said that there had been seventeen broken bones in the attack, and that there had been massive internal bleeding and damage as a result. If he hadn't been in a relatively public place when the attack occurred, he never would have survived it and the case against several prominent Death Eaters would have collapsed.

He sat quietly through meals and didn't engage in meaningless conversation. At first Ginny was thankful for that, but it grated on her nerves after a while. It was too quiet, too silent. He was so very different from the schoolboy he had once been.

"Do you get nightmares?" she asked randomly one day. He froze mid-meal and couldn't quite meet her eyes, which she understood as yes. "I keep the silencing charms on your room pretty tight, so I don't hear anything if you do cry out," she continued in an ordinary tone of voice. "But nightmares are common after something traumatic."

"What do you know about it?" he asked, his voice a rough rasp. In the nearly two weeks they were living in this safe house, most of the bruising had faded.

"Plenty of horrible things have happened to me," she said in flat tones. "Did you think you were the only one?" She looked him in the eye, and Draco looked away first.

It was a hollow victory, and reminding him of his pain did nothing but make her feel small and petty.

***

"I can't sleep," Draco said abruptly, leaving his bedroom. Ginny had been sitting in front of the fire in the sitting room, unable to sleep herself. Her book wasn't very engaging, and usually it helped her to unwind. Tonight it wasn't working very well.

Ginny looked up and saw the circles beneath his eyes, making him appear more drawn and wan than usual. For some reason, seeing Draco this way hurt physically, and she simply scooted over on the couch. "I can't either," she said, patting the seat she just vacated in invitation. "In my case, I'm not supposed to."

Draco sat down and stared at the fire as it crackled. Ginny stopped pretending to read her book and simply put it aside. She looked over his profile, at the way the firelight danced across his features. "There are many things I regret," he said abruptly, his voice that same rough rasp from disuse. "The nightmares make it worse."

"That's generally how it works," she said, taking a chance and resting her hand over his. He turned to look at her but didn't pull away. "Whatever it was that happened, you always look back and wonder if you could have done it differently. If you could have stopped it from happening, if you could have been anyone else and changed things."

"Yes," he murmured, nodding. "If I'd been stronger..."

"But you also might not be here now," Ginny continued. "Or something worse might have happened. Changing the past can change who you are now. For all the mistakes I've made, I can't regret all of them. They made me who I am now."

"I don't like who I am now," Draco responded, voice fracturing at the end.

Her hand tightened over his. "I do."

He might have said _But you don't know me,_ or _How can you?_ but her mouth closed over his in a soft and gentle kiss. She hadn't thought she would do it, hadn't meant to when she leaned forward. She had thought she would simply hold him, would tell him that things always worked themselves out one way or another. It was freezing cold outside, snow falling, but eventually everything would thaw. Eventually it would be spring again.

Instead, her tongue slid into his mouth and he moved to wrap his arms around her desperately. The kissing grew fevered, and Ginny pulled at his shirt to free it from his trousers. In response, Draco slipped his own hands under her blouse to feel her skin. It felt electric, and they helped take off each others' clothes. Draco's lips found her skin and he kissed whatever he could, until he took a breast into his mouth and sucked gently. Ginny gasped and cradled him with one hand, reaching down to stroke his erection with the other. He held her, kissing and sucking and stroking her as her hand moved over him. Draco suddenly pulled back with a whimper, eyes wide open. "Weasley, I..."

"Ginny," she told him. It was silly to think of each other by last names if they were naked and he was about to come in her hands.

 _"Ginny,"_ he growled, hips pushing forward as he thrust into her hand. He spilled across her palm with a strangled gasp, and then his head dropped forward. "Merlin. I didn't mean to."

Ginny chuckled. "Well, I did." He looked up startled as she leaned forward and kissed him. "You'll last longer now," she said with a teasing smile. "Up to the challenge?"

He smiled, his entire expression lighting up. It was startling and beautiful to see, and the first time she had ever seen a genuine smile on his face. He grasped her face and kissed her as his answer, then pushed her to the floor.

Suddenly spending the entire winter guarding Draco Malfoy didn't seem like such a bad idea after all.


End file.
